Seasonal Romantics
by Relyob
Summary: Set after the game- Different snaps of each couple's relationship throughout the year. New chapters about Squall and Rinoa, set around Christmas. Enjoy!
1. Sea Breeze

_**Seasonal Romantics**_

_- Sea Breeze,  
(Summer; August)  
Seifer, Quistis_

* * *

The sea gently spayed its salty debris over the young couple who were sitting on the pier. One of them had a fishing rod in his hand whilst the other held an empty bucket. The sun was beating down heavily on the two and the man who had the fishing, placed it on the ground and pulled his shirt over his head. His blonde hair glistened in the sun as he smirked at the woman beside him, "Some eye candy for you." He smirked.

The woman sitting with the empty bucket merely snickered, "Stop worrying about me, Seifer. You just catch us a few fishies and I'll be happy."

Seifer reeled in his bait and cast it out again before taking a seat on his very own customized fishing chair, "Relax, fishing's what I do best. You just sit there and look pretty, Quistis." Hearing some commotion, Seifer looked down to the other side of the pier, seeing three men who were also fishing. One of them seemed to have a large mackerel in his hands and was now prancing around the place with the fish. Seifer groaned inwardly.

Quistis, who was also looking at the man dancing with his fish, sighed to herself. She stared at the empty bucket for a moment. _Fishing's what you do best? ...I'd hate to see what you do worst Seifer. _Looking to her boyfriend, she gave him a reassuring smile, "Don't let them put you off, honey." The pair had been sitting here for about an hour now and Quistis was starting to become bored. When Seifer had said to her last night that he wanted to take her out for a relaxing, peaceful, romantic day at the pier she didn't exactly think he meant fishing. It wasn't really her style.

Seifer looked over at her and scoffed, "Those men don't appreciate the true meaning of fishing!" He jerked his thumb over the back of his head, "I ought to throw them into the sea. Let the fish get their own back." Smiling evily, he added, "What do you think?"

Quistis chuckled, "Seifer, I'm absolutely starving! Now, stop worrying about others and catch us a damn fish!" She waved the empty bucket in front of his face. Thinking for a moment, she said, "You know... Can we just go out to a restaurant and get fish?" Seifer furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Quistis for a while. After about five minutes Quistis had to look away, "..What?! I was only suggesting."

"Quistis..." Seifer said seriously, casting his bait out again, "I'm trying to be a real man here. Catching us our food, I'm like a warrior! You're ruining the whole warrior like thing I've got going here. If you seen ChickenWuss or Captain Puberty out doing this for Rinoa or some prostitute (In Zell's case) you'd be begging me to take you out fishing.'" Seifer laughed when he seen Quistis' expression.

Adjusting her glasses, Quistis quickly glanced at the empty bucket then to Seifer. "Firstly, you are so mean! Don't be saying that about Zell, he's our friend. Secondly, you're talking complete bull about me begging you to go fishing. This 'sport' is dull! Uninteresting! Now..." Standing up and brushing some of the dust that had gathered on her shoulders, Quistis raised an eyebrow, "I'm going to a restaurant. Adios Seifer!" Without another word Quistis was happily skipping away from Seifer towards the most expensive restaurant on the harbour.

Seifer sat for a moment, not wanting to damage his pride by running after Quistis like a lovesick puppy, so he waited for a while casting out his rod and pretending nothing had happened. _C'mon! If there is a God, you will give me a fish. Please!_ Nothing. _This sea is dead. _After hearing some more commotion coming from the beach, Seifer swore that he was about to punch somebody if they had caught a fish but... When he looked down to where the commotion was coming from, he was completely flabbergasted.

Quistis stood in her bikini, in the middle of a small row boat, with a large fish above her head whilst waving to Seifer. An old man sat to her right who seemed to be steering the row boat. _What the hell!? _Seifer thought he was imagining things, but after rubbing his eyes several times and still seeing Quistis with the fish, he stood up, threw his fishing rod on the ground and marched towards his girlfriend.

* * *

Some people were cheering for Quistis on the beach and quite frankly, she felt proud of herself. When she was on her way to the restaurant an old man on the beach called her over and asked her what bait her grumpy looking friend was using. Quistis replied honestly saying that she didn't know, she even told the man that she found fishing to be dull but... When the old man stated that he had a bulletproof plan to catch the largest mackerel in the sea, he piped her interest. Whilst listening to his plan, she got out onto the rowing boat with him and as he set up the fishing rod and special bait, he asked Quistis to row them out to a particular point which was about ten minutes from the shore.

Once they were out in the sea, Quistis could spot Seifer sitting alone on the pier. It looked as if he was grumbling to himself or something. She guessed he was pretty angry at her for just skipping away, happily nonetheless. _I would've died of boredom if I hadn't escaped... _Convincing herself that Seifer was fine, she looked over to the old man who was handing her a really old looking fishing rod.

"Here you go, young'un." He wheezed. Pointing over to his right, he motioned for Quistis to cast the bait out. She answered by telling him she didn't know how to. "Ahh, back in my day this was second nature!" She apologised. "Never worry though, you just do this... Then that. Got it?"

Quistis nodded, she always was a fast learner. Ever since joining Garden she found that when she was shown how to do things once, she could always do them by herself afterwards, fishing was no different. "Alright... there!" She cast the bait directly to the point where the old man had pointed her to.

"Excellent young'un, excellent!" The old man cheered, giving her a pat on the back, "Now, reel it in quick!" He screamed with glee when he seen a large fish underwater approaching the bait, "Slow it down just a tad, young'un..." Quistis did as she was told and eventually the large fish gobbled up the bait and unfortunately (For the fish) it also gobbled up the hook, "Marvellous! Quick young'un!"

_..Make up your mind...! _Again, Quistis did as she was told. Gasping, when she seen a large fish on the end of her line, she smiled brightly reeling it in as fast as she could and jerking the rod every so often. After a while, a tired Quistis hauled the fishing rod and the fish onto the rowing boat. She collapsed onto the boat while the old man quickly killed the fish and washed it in a bucket of water he had on his row boat. "Phew..." Quistis wiped her forehead, "I never knew fishing could be so... Exhausting. But, whoa! I just caught my first fish!!"

"And what a beautiful fish it is!" The old man said, lifting it from the bucket. "Would you like to hold your catch?" Quistis nodded vigorously as the old man handed her the fish. Once Quistis received the fish, the old man started to shout to some business men on the beach, saying she had caught the 'Big Whopper.' "This young'un has caught the fish, get yer ovens ready an' yer restaurants' ready, you suits!"

Quistis looked to the beach to see some of the men in suits shouting something to the old man; she couldn't hear them properly but figured the old man could. He started shouting how it would be free and how he just wanted to celebrate for 

his life or something along those lines. Ignoring the people on the beach and the old man, Quistis looked to where Seifer sat, by himself and when h looked over at her, she began to wave the fish above her head. Seeing him throw his fishing rod onto the ground and march towards the beach, Quistis grinned. It was quite funny when Seifer got annoyed, especially when it was over something that he felt he was good at.

* * *

Seifer stood at the beach watching Quistis coming closer and closer to the shore, still waving the big fish above her head. He had overheard some men in suits talking about having a party at one of the restaurants tonight and supplying people with free fish while he was waiting for her to come in and decided that if Quistis had a reasonable explanation for showing him up, then he would take her to this party tonight, but firstly, he had a reputation for being a bad ass, and this was exactly who he was going to be for a while, at least. "Quistis!" He growled when she stepped off the boat after handing the old man the fish.

Quistis was beaming when she approached Seifer, "Hey! Did you see me catching the fish?"

"..." Seifer glared at her, "You just upstaged me... Stupid Instructor." He tried to look angry for a few more minutes but after seeing Quistis' face, (which was still radiating joy) he simply grinned, "Don't you know it looks bad when a man's girlfriend beats him at the only thing he's good at?"

"Yes." Quistis replied honestly, smirking, "But hey, look on the bright side. I caught us our dinner!" She wrapped her arms around Seifer's neck and pulled herself closer to his face. Reaching up to his ear, she whispered, "And baby... I'll tell everybody in Garden it was you caught the fish."

Seifer gently pulled his head away from hers, "Y-you would do that... For m-me?" He stuttered. Quistis nodded whilst winking.

"You bet... All I want is a tinchy winchy favour."

"...And that is?"

She winked at him again, "You'll see tonight."

Suddenly, Seifer burst out laughing, "Ahh Quistis. You do know how much I love your flirty ways don't you?"

"I know."

Pulling her into a tight embrace, Seifer gave her a peck on the lips, "So, how about we go eat your fish at a party tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yeah, I think 'Harbour View' is having a party or something and they're serving your fish," Quistis didn't look too happy about this, "... For free!" Seifer added but Quistis simply raised an eyebrow.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I am straving!"

Seifer shrugged.

"Look, of course I'll go to the party with you tonight but can we _please_ go get something now?" Quistis asked, showing a face that Rinoa had taught her.

Seifer smiled, " 'Course we can." Taking her hand and leading her away from the beach he spotted a cosy looking cafe labelled, 'Sea Breeze.' "You alright for here?" He asked Quistis, when she nodded, he held the door opened for her and casually strolled in.

"Hmm," Quistis said, quickly scanning over the cafe, "Doesn't look like there are any seats. How about we sit outside?"

Seifer nodded, "You go on out, I just need to go to the bogs."

Quistis gave him a playful slap on the arm, "Loo, Seifer. Loo."

"Alright Miss. Posh," He straightened himself up, "If you must know, I need to take a dump. Now, I'll meet you outside in about five. Toodle-loo!" He kissed her cheek and made his way to the back of the cafe while Quistis made her way to the front. Just as he was about to enter the toilets, Seifer noticed something strange about one of the tables in the far right hand corner of the cafe. All the menus on the table had been set upright to shield the people sitting there from the rest of cafe. Seifer peered over the menus only to see his good ole chum, Zell Dincht sitting there with some woman whom he had never seen before. Casually flicking the menus down he laughed when Zell screamed.

"Seifer?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Zell screeched. He stood up and ushered Seifer away from the table.

"Oh looky here... Who's your 'friend' Zelly?" Seifer said, waving to the lady at the table. She turned red and looked away.

Zell looked around anxiously, "J-just a friend." He scratched his head, "Look man, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody about this."

Seifer chuckled, "Yeah, I bet you would. Unfortunately for you though, I don't really care what you appreciate. I gotta go to the loo now, Zelly-Poo, so I'll leave you and your 'friend' be." Zell was about to shout something when Seifer casually threw over his shoulder, "You get her from Kinneas?" Laughing evilly he walked into the toilets before Zell could reply.

* * *

After doing what he had to do, Seifer walked out of the toilets only to see that Zell and his lady friend had left the cafe. Seifer smirked as he walked out the front of the cafe to Quistis, "Howdy Trepe." He greeted, taking a seat.

"Hey! I ordered us two large ice-cream sundaes and three slices of apple crumble... Is that alright?" Asked Quistis.

"Sure. Why three?"

"One for you, two for me."

"Good, I like my women with some curves." Seifer said grinning, "How much?"

"Four hundred Gil but don't worry, I've got it covered." Quistis smiled.

Something triggered in Seifer's mind at this point, "Oh yeah! Speaking of paying, you'll never guess who I just saw Zell with..."

"Who?!"

"Some prostitute!!"

* * *

Hope you enjoyed this, it's my first ever SeiferQuistis central chapter. I don't normally right about this pair so I don't really know how it turned out. Reviews are always welcome and thank you for reading. I think the next one will be about Zell and Selphie set in September maybe. I'm not sure. Anyways, bye!


	2. Body Exposure

_**Seasonal Romantics**_

_- Body Exposure,  
(Summer; August)  
Zell, Selphie_

* * *

Zell Dincht had two tattoos in total- His most noticeable one, on the left hand side of his face which was in the shape of some tribal thing. His second was a small tattoo which consisted of two boxing gloves on his ankle. But now, Selphie was pressuring him to get a third and it wasn't that he didn't _want_ one, it was just... what Selphie_ wanted_ him to get.

The two were sitting at a cosy looking cafe named, 'Sea Breeze.'- Zell had decided to take Selphie out for a bite to eat since they both woke up late meaning that only the absolutely disgusting food was left in the cafeteria. He knew that this cafe served tasty food; after all, he was a regular at this place. Normally he would come once a week but after his little run with Seifer, he decided to skip it for a week and so, here he was on the 8th of August with none other than Selphie Tilmitt. "..."

"So..." As Zell looked around the cafe for a waitress, Selphie twiddled her thumbs, "Are we going to the tattoo parlour after lunch?"

Throwing his head over the back of the chair, Zell exhaled loudly, "I guess..." Suddenly an idea popped into his head, "But only if you get a tattoo as well!" As a slim waitress walked past the table Zell clicked his fingers, "Excuse me, could I get a... large fry please?" The waiter politely nodded. Zell turned to his friend, "And you, Selphie?"

Giving Zell a peculiar look, Selphie squinted her eyes, _No chance am I getting a tattoo_... "Some strawberry cheesecake please."

The waitress smiled, "Any drinks?"

"Milk, please."

"Same."

Nodding, the waitress walked away in search of the kitchen. Selphie stretched whilst eyeing the tattoo on Zell's face. Would she be able to get one? Wouldn't it hurt? Wouldn't the person drawing the tattoo be all bald and scary? "Does it hurt Zelly?" Selphie asked, still staring at Zell's tattoo.

"What?" Zell followed her line of eyesight, "Ahh my baby!" He stroked his face, "Well this one did hurt since it's quite big and I hear it's more painful on the face. The one on my ankle..." He placed his hairy leg on the table and pulled his socks down. "This little one wasn't sore at all."

"Zell!" Selphie warned, pushing his leg of the table. Some other people in the cafe were now eyeing the two, suspiciously. "You know... I should really wax your legs some day! Oh my God! I should so totally do that!! We could get people to sponsor us and then whatever money we earned we could put it toward the next Garden festival!" Selphie imagined all of the possibilities of having more money for the Garden festival... _Better performers! More alcohol! Tastier snacks! Male dancers! _A bit of drool escaped from Selphie's mouth but she wiped it away quickly and avoided eye contact with Zell for a few seconds.

Zell was now afraid. Having Selphie as a friend did have its positives but it also brought quite a number of negatives and the main one was; she dragged you into positions that any normal person shouldn't be dragged into too. But that was one of the many reasons why he loved her... as a friend. Still... He wasn't about to let wax near his legs... "Selphie. My legs are like my children, no wax is going _anywhere _near them." He self consciously rubbed his legs under the table.

Selphie seemed to disagree, "We'll see Zell... We'll see." _...Male...Dancers..._

At this point the waitress arrived with Zell's large fry and a slice of strawberry cheesecake for Selphie. "Here you go. I'll get you your drinks now," She said and walked away again.

"Hmm... Tasty!" Zell dug into his fried egg straight away. Bits of munched egg flew around the place as he continued his conversation with Selphie, "Aboush fish taffoo..." He swallowed the egg and started to poke at the remaining bits on his plat, "Why are you lookin' me to get a panda?" Stabbing his fork into his food resulted in a bit of fried egg flying onto Zell's cheek, "... A yellow panda nonetheless."

Looking up at Zell from her cheesecake, Selphie struggled to contain her laughter. The waitress had returned with the milk and was now staring at Zell's eggy cheek. Kicking Zell under the table and rubbing her cheek at the same time, Selphie finally got her friend to realise he had egg on his cheek. He picked if of embarrassingly and apologised to the waitress. She just smiled, placed the milk down and walked away in search of another table. "Eggy face!" Selphie piped once the waitress was out of earshot.

Zell turned red, "Shush."

"Aww Zelly! Don't go all sulky on me. You should be excited because..." She pretended to do a drum roll, "... You're gonna get a Selphie panda!!" Grabbing a napkin from Zell's plate, Selphie pulled out a pen and started to scribble something.

Still eating his fry, Zell murmured, "Selph.. What are you doi-"

"TA-DAAAA!!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The next thing Zell knew, he was lying on the ground with a really fat yet cute looking yellow panda scribble in his face. "Wh-what the hell just happened?!" He lifted the page from his face only to notice that everybody in the cafe was staring at him. _Don't return to this cafe..._Selphie's grinning face appeared above his head. She offered him her hand. "Oof." Hauling himself up with the help of Selphie, Zell grabbed the piece of paper with the panda on it. Analysing it, he said, "This is quite good... What is it?"

Selphie slapped his arm, "It's a panda! D'uh!"

"This..." He stuck his finger in the panda's stomach, "This fat mess is what you want me to get imprinted on my chest?!"

Jumping up and down on the spot, Selphie screeched, "YEEES!"

Zell scratched his neck, "Why though? You won't even see it!"

Embarrassed, Selphie sat down at the table and continued eating her cheesecake, "... I just... Think it would be cool." Of course, this wasn't the _entire _truth. This was about 1/8 of why she wanted him to get the tattoo; the other 7/8's being that she wanted Zell to remember her, not that he was going anywhere or anything but she wanted to be with him. Over the past four years their relationship had grew significantly, they still considered each other as friends but lately, Selphie was beginning to think that maybe something more was blossoming. "You know, any future girlfriends you may have would be like, 'Whoa, you're such a man Zelly, look at that big panda!' Know what I'm saying?" Selphie winked.

Zell scratched his neck, again, "Somehow... I doubt that. They'd probably think I'm a bit on the gay side, y'know?" He followed in Selphie's footsteps and sat down at the table once more. Gobbling down a sausage Zell looked up at the ceiling, "I was thinking more of a... Gun or something!!"

Selphie pretended to hit her head of the table, "Booooring!" Finishing the last of her cheese cake, she raised her eyebrows, "It is your decision... But, personally I think you would look totally hot with a big fat, cute, yellow Selphie panda on your chest."

_Totally hot...? _Biting his lip, Zell thought for a moment. _If I get the panda... Maybe Selphie's right; more girl's will start to notice me. And I've definitely got the upper body to walk around without a shirt. I'm such a big head... Guess I should go ahead with it. Yeah, why not? _"Alright, Selphie. I've got a proposition for you." Zell ate the rest of his fry, "If I get your panda then you have to get... Me on your shoulder!"

"What?!" Selphie raised her eyebrows, "You're getting on my shoulder?!"

"No, no! Get a chibi version of me on your shoulder! I've had a few conversations with the guy at the tattoo parlour and he's into anime and stuff. I even saw him draw some girl's boyfriend as a chibi on the girl's back." Zell smiled, "So... What do you think? Panda for me. Me for you."

Selphie was shaking her head vigorously at this point, "Umm no! Anybody who sees me with you on my back will think we're going out or something!"

"True... Right, let's just go to the tattoo parlour and we'll decide from there. You are gonna get one though!"

* * *

The outside of the tattoo parlour was unusually clean, Selphie noticed. She thought it may have been littered with used plasters and bandages, and not to mention crowds of scary looking men covered in tattoos but, it wasn't. It was a deep red building with a few pictures here and there of people's tattoos which Selphie thought looked pretty darn cool. Then, there were more pictures to the left with a number of pictures, showing people with their thumbs up beside some eccentric looking guy. There was a sign above the tattoo place which read, 'Sammy's Tattoo Heaven.' _Original._ Selphie figured the weird looking guy was Sammy since he was in all of the photographs. "I'm so excited!" She admitted, performing a very random victory dance.

Zell rubbed his hands together, "So you should be! The name speaks the truth, it is like heaven!" Zell could remember coming here for the first time when he was sixteen with his mum. She wasn't too keen on the whole 'tattooed face' ideal but eventually, he persuaded her somehow. Thinking back on it he didn't have a clue how he persuaded her, his mum was one tough lady. He had called into the parlour a couple of times every month since he had clicked so well with Sammy- the first time he was here. The second time Zell came in to get a tattoo was with the boy who looked up to Zell as his idol. Zell's neighbours had nicknamed the boy, 'Big Bad Rascal.'

Big Bad Rascal was now sixteen and had wanted to get a tattoo ever since Zell got his. So, after talking to the boys mum, Zell took him to get his first tattoo about five months ago. This was when Zell got the boxing gloves on his ankle, the boy had asked Zell to go first so he could see if it hurt or not. When he seen Zell not flinching at all the boy jumped right into the seat to get a tattoo up the back of his leg, at the end of it he was crying his eyes out.

Zell laughed loudly.

"What's funny?" Selphie asked.

Zell noted that she looked slightly nervous as he could see her fists clenching then unclenching, "Just remembering some stuff... Is something up, Selph? You look kinda nervy."

Looking to the ground, Selphie mumbled something, "Just a little scared..." She looked up when she felt Zell's hand holding her own.

Zell gave her a reassuring smile, "Don't be! If I can get _two _then you can definitely get one!"

Clasping onto Zell's hand, Selphie also smiled. "Alright! Let's do it up!"

* * *

And that's the end, bit abrupt lol. Btw, the date at the start- 8th of August was just a random day I picked, it's not suppsed to be todays date or anything. :)  
I haven't made my mind up about whom the next chapter will be about yet, but there'll be more information about Zell and Selphie's new tattoo's.  
This wasn't really romantic, so I decided to change the genre to friendship as well. Thank you so much for your reviews, they really put me in a good mood, make my day for sure. ;) So, who do you guys want the next chapter to focus on?


	3. Casual Banter

**_Seasonal Romantics_**

_- Casual Banter  
(Autumn; September)  
Everybody_

* * *

Becoming too engrossed in your romantic life can lead to the loss of friendships, pondering on this thought, Rinoa Heartilly decided to organise a weekly event in the quad for herself and her friends. This event consisted of them meeting every Tuesday evening to discuss _anything _or simply, have a little chit chat, maybe even some gossip. Mainly, it was just a way of keeping up the friendships they had built during the whole, "Let's Save the World!" ordeal and Seifer's friendships with most of the group starting once he was allowed back into Garden.

After being with the same people for a number of months, twenty-four/seven it was rather strange not to see them as much as usual and; In a strange way Rinoa felt more freedom once her normal routine returned. Not because she was being held back by her friends in anyway, because she wasn't, but it was just... To be able to go off and do your own thing, go out shopping for a while- buy some fancy dresses, nice shoes- not having to stock up on potions or get weapons updated, not having to worry about having the weight of the world on your shoulders. It felt good, brilliant even. Rinoa smiled.

Today was Tuesday and so, 'Casual Banter' (With thanks to Selphie's excellent name choice for the evening) began. Rinoa, Selphie and Zell were first to arrive, small talk swapping between them. Rinoa got a little excited though when Selphie and Zell declared that they had a big surprise for the group. _They're a couple maybe...? They have been spending an awful lot of time with each other_. Rinoa shrugged this thought away and decided that they were spending so much time together because missions were scarce. The world was generally at peace now with Esthar and Galbadia on good relations- everything was moving along nicely. Rinoa even heard that her father _and_ Squall's father would be discussing peace ceremonies in a meeting tomorrow. She grimaced at the thought of their two personalities clashing though; the strict and stern, General Caraway contrasting with the laid back, happy-go-lucky, President Laguna.

"This surprise..." Rinoa started, "Any hints?"

Selphie shook her head immediately whilst Zell held his hotdog in front of his mouth, "Here's your only one." Selphie sighed once Zell had made his comment, "...What? Why the sigh!?"

"I told you no hints Zelly!" Looking at Rinoa and shrugging her shoulders, Selphie simply stated, "Men... What can you do?"

"Who knows...? Squall's exactly the same. I thought I'd completely figured him out and then he goes and cracks a joke." The young sorceress fiddled with the grass, "I don't know who he is..."

Whilst Selphie laughed, Zell waved the last quarter of his hotdog in the two girl's faces, "Hey... There's a man sitting right here y'know? I get insulted easily!"

"Boy, Zell. _Boy_."

"Boy?!" Zell stood up, threw his hotdog on the floor in an attempt to show his anger and then... Immediately regretted it, "Please tell me why I just did that?" He sniffed, picked his hotdog of the grass and finally groaned whenever a big ugly looking slimy slug appeared to have attached itself to the bap, "Damn..." He whispered sitting himself back onto the blanket that Selphie had brought, "I thought I could've eaten it. But look!" He shoved the hotdog with the slug into both Selphie and Rinoa's faces, this ended in Zell receiving three slaps; One from Rinoa, one from Selphie and another one from Selphie because it was fun.

* * *

Quistis and Squall both arrived at this point, looking as calm and collected as ever. "Hello!" Quistis greeted, giving everybody a short hug, "Seifer not here yet...?" She was a little disappointed; Seifer had promised her earlier that he would arrive on time. They hadn't really seen that much of each other in a while, Seifer saying that he had something important to do _every day_. _Hmm..._ With her worrying aside she intended to have good fun tonight, maybe even squeeze some gossip from Selphie and Rinoa.

"Nope..." Rinoa said. After Quistis' hug, she greeted Squall with a small peck on the lips, "Hiya!"

Squall took a seat on the huge blanket as he said his hello's to his friends. "Anybody for drinks?" He asked, whipping a few two litre bottles of Coca Cola, water and Fanta from the bag he was carrying. He also took out a number of bars of chocolate and a big bag of polystyrene cups.

"You've fairly come prepared."

Squall smiled at Rinoa, "I always do."

"You've just made my night!!" Selphie shrieked. She pounced from her spot on the blanket into the bottles of fizzy lemonade, "Cocaaaa-Collaaaaalalala!" She began a very random song which became even more insane when Zell started to make a background beat. Throwing the Coca-Cola into the air Selphie suddenly screeched, "Iiirvy!! Seifer! Hey!"

Looking up from her spot, Quistis was surprised to see Seifer casually chatting to Irvine on his way to the group. _Something's definitely up... _

"Hey guys!" Rinoa motioned for the two men to take a seat, "Alright everybody's here, so let's get started. Selphie, Zell... Your surprise?"

"Oh yeah!" Zell was about to pull of his t-shirt when Selphie roughly pulled him aside, "What's the deal with you hurting me?"

"Zell... Come on now." Selphie looked around suspiciously, as if she was keeping an eye out for someone, "We should do this right. It could look loads better if we do it in sync." Zell nodded, "So I'm thinking..."

"You click your fingers and then we show them?" Offered Zell.

"Yeah! That's good. Okay, so something like this maybe...?" Selphie whispered one-two-three then clicked her fingers and the two revealed their tattoo's with a loud 'Ta-Daa!' "Excellent Zell. Let's go do it." When they walked over to their friends, they performed their little routine which revealed Selphie's tattoo on her wrist and Zell's tattoo on his left breast.

The group was silent for a while before Seifer made a sly remark about Zell, "...Moobs." He muttered under his breath. Fortunately, nobody but Quistis heard it. She just laughed silently though.

"Look!" Selphie held her wrist into each of their faces so they could see just exactly what it was, "It's a smiling hotdog!"

"..."

"And mine is a yellow panda!"

"..."

Squall took a sip of water while everybody sat in silence, just staring at Zell and Selphie. He choked as the water went down the wrong way. Spluttering and coughing, he eventually managed to say, "Yours is really small, Selphie."

It was indeed really small. When Zell and Selphie had entered the tattoo parlour, she had said that in all honesty she wasn't too keen on getting a tattoo. She wanted a small one so that if need be, she could get it removed easily. So, Sammy decided that one on her wrist would do nicely and after telling him what it was she wanted, Sammy took pen to skin. The tattoo was an unusual hotdog which had two legs and two arms, one of its arms held an even smaller hotdog into the air whilst the other was resting its hand on its hips. There was a pair of smiling lips on the sausage but no eyes or nose.

Zell's was much bigger than Selphie's covering most of his left breast. The yellow panda sat with closed eyes and its legs spread out, its arms were resting behind its head. Its mouth was wide open with a little bit of drool escaping- it must have been sleeping. Zell had nicknamed the panda, 'Chubby' as Sammy had made it have about twenty bellies. In the words of Sammy it was, 'The cutest little baby panda I've ever seen Zello!' Zell had just smiled, paid for both Selphie and his tattoos then calmly backed away from the parlour.

'"Yeah I know but, it was my first one so I didn't want it to be too big." While Zell showed his to Quistis and Rinoa, Selphie turned her attention to Irvine. "Irvy? What do you think?"

Irvine, who was still having a conversation with Seifer looked at Selphie and gave her a thumbs up, "Lookin' good, Sefie!" She performed a little twirl for him then scrambled toward Zell, Quistis and Rinoa. Irvine continued his conversation with Seifer, "No, no, no! Look, she's you're baby. Treat her with the utmost care! My Manillito is like a king, he's the best."

"But look, how am I supposed to spend any alone time at all with Quistis when she keeps giving me those eyes. I can't!"

Irvine had to hold back his laughter at this point, he had _never _seen Seifer act like this, snickering he inquired, "How come you're not with her now?"

"... She's sleeping." Seifer replied, plucking a strand of grass from the ground. Fujin and Raijin we're on business in Esthar for a few weeks which meant Seifer had to mind their turtle, Gems. Truth is; he had grown _so _attached to the turtle that he dreaded leaving it. Gems just put on her best puppy dog eyes and Seifer was under her command, he just ... He couldn't leave her alone when she looked at him like that. Not wanting Quistis to think he was a total loser, Seifer confided in Irvine because he also owned a turtle, which was called Manillito. "That's the only time I get o-." A quiet sort of crying noise interrupted Seifer, he slapped his head when he realised what it was.

"What is that?" Squall questioned looking around the Quad.

Selphie also looked around in search of where the mystery noise was coming from, "It sounds like... Someone's crying."

"Ahh look at the time!" Seifer suddenly stood up, looked at Irvine sadly, said his goodbye's to Quistis and walked away from the Quad. When he was sure nobody could see him, he took the little baby monitor he had installed in the dorm room and turned it off. Immediately, he started to sprint to his room, _his _Gems was crying.

* * *

Once Seifer left, the crying noise vanished and the group continued to their normal banter, Zell was now telling Squall and Irvinehow he found out that the library girl was not as innocence as he had first thought, in fact, when he was just casually strolling through an 'adult' store in Balamb, he seen the Library Girl over at the handcuffs and dressing up section. Squall looked at Zell suspiciously as he bit down on a bar of chocolate, "...And why exactly where you in the adult section?" He stifled a laugh when he seen Zell's face turn the slightest shade of red.

"Well.. You see Squall," Trying to think of a sufficient lie was proving to be difficult and in the end, Zell just decided to tell Squall the truth, "Look at it this way. You have Rinoa, I have nobody. Get my drift?"

Squall half-nodded.

"You know..." Irvine started showing his pearly whites, "I forgot to ask; how was your day with Mandy?"

_Awful. _Zell balled his fists, "That idiot Seifer seen me with her and totally ruined it! But Irvine... I'm not looking for any one off's you know? I'm looking for a proper girlfriend here!"

"Mandy was proper girlfriend material!" Irvine took one of the plastic cups from Squall's bag and filled it with Fanta, "Oh wait! I see... You don't want somebody you have to pay for?"

"Hold on here a second." Squall interrupted, he wasn't too keen on where this conversation was going. Irvine may have been doing something illegal for all he knew, "Are you pimping out girls?!"

"Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" Irvine whispered, "Of course I'm not! Mandy is my friend, she's looking for love as well but her love costs. Nobody is pimping her out Squall, she just doesn't have a lot of money and makes sure that anybody who she goes out with pays for everything like going to the cinema, drinking, eating. Know what I mean?"

_Shouldn't everyman do that though..? _Squall thought. He was too much of a gentleman to realise that not all men paid for their dates. Aside from this his nerves eased a bit, "...Right, right." Squall wasn't really that interested in Zell's love life, so he made his way over to the girl's to see what they were talking about. "Hey, again." He greeted, sitting in between Selphie and Rinoa.

Quistis had just finished telling the girl's about how she caught her first fish when Squall arrived. Being the nice person that she was, she decided to save Zell from humiliation and not tell the others about his little run in with Seifer, "Then we just got some apple pie and left. It was a really good day." She smiled, mainly to herself. She hadn't really been out with Seifer since then, and making a note in her head that this had to change she turned her attention back to the group again.

"Aww Quisty. I'm so happy for you!" Selphie piped, inside she actually felt jealous of her friend but she was never one to show jealousy, she was the bubbly, happy-go-lucky Selphie and there was no denying that she liked being that girl but it was hard to keep that up when in all reality you're feeling a bit depressed yourself. In all honesty, Selphie was having the same problem as Zell. She'd dwell on that later though, now was the time to be the bubbly Selphie. "I'd love to have the relationship that you and Seifer have. It sounds so romantic!"

_"Romantic...?"_ Quistis repeated her friend's words under her breath. Quistis looked up to the sky, thinking of how Seifer acted when it was just him and her, "Yeah... I guess you're right. It is kinda' romantic, isn't it?"

* * *

After a couple of hours Quistis and Irvine decided to leave, both claiming that sleep was starting to take its toll on them which meant that only Rinoa, Selphie, Squall and Zell were left in the quad. As Zell and Selphie were engrossed in some conversation over Sammy, Squall turned his attention to Rinoa who was quietly sipping on a cup of water. "You enjoy yourself?" He asked picking up a few of the empty cups beside him and placing them into a plastic bag.

Rinoa nodded. She silently finished her water and gave the cup to Squall to place it in the bag, "How about you?"

"So-so."

"Oh really?" She raised an eyebrow, "Why only 'so-so'?"

He smiled sheepishly falling onto his back, "Well... You could haveve spoken to me more." He heard Rinoa's tutting get louder as she appeared beside him.

"You could have spoken to _me _more." Rinoa countered. She placed her head onto Squall's chest and started to fiddle with his necklace. "Anyway, there's always tonight, right?"

He grinned, "I doubt there'll be any talking tonight."

"Hmm yeah, I'm really tired." She faked a yawn.

He blinked, "..."

"I'm just going to collapse on the bed..."

He blinked again,"..."

"...I might even fall asleep right here."

"Don't go to sleep."

"..." Pretending to be asleep didn't work out to well because it only resulted in Squall flicking water in her face, "Hey!"

He chuckled at her expression, "I told you not to go asleep. Now, come on." Standing up Squall said quick goodbye's to Selphie and Zell then stared at Rinoa who was still lying in the grass. "I'm gonna carry you if you don't get up."

She smiled deviously, "Try."

"Rinoa I'm being serious."

"Go for it."

"...Alright," He bent down and scooped Rinoa up and over his shoulder then made his way out of the Quad and to his dormitory. Rinoa just laughed as she waved goodbye to Zell and Selphie.

"They're in for a fun night." Selphie commented watching them leave.

"Definitely."

* * *

No romance really here either. This was just a filling chapter to show what's going on.  
Alright so here's an update: I have Irvine's chapter nearly written which will be based around Hallowe'en, Squall and Rinoa's chapter is completed but it's set in December so I can't really post it now... I suppose I could write more about them, it doesn't exactly have to be just one chapter for each coupld... Yeah, I'll do that.  
Thanks for the idea's by the way. I tried to write a LagunaxRaine story but I could only manage like... Two paragraphs. :l I'll give it another shot though. A Fujin and Raijin chapter is sounding pretty tempting to me... as well and a Seifer and Selphie friendship chapter too. (Thanks to cerespallas)  
But we'll see how that goes. Thanks a ton for everything guys, your feedback is like Heaven. :D Bye!


	4. Midnight Snow

_**Seasonal Romantics**_

_- Midnight Snowstorm,  
__(Winter; December)  
Rinoa, Squall_

_

* * *

_  
The weather had been severe for the past few days on the island of Balamb with many heavy snowfalls blocking the roads and stopping anybody from getting anywhere. The people of Balamb had been strongly advised to have a large amount of food and drink _and_ to have back-up generators to keep their electricity running if there were to be any power cuts. Of all the places associated with the town the one people thought would be safest was none other than Balamb Garden, but unfortunately, this was not the case.

* * *

Squall had been away in Trabia for the past month and well, he had missed Rinoa so much that it was unbelievable. And what made it even worse was that once Squall arrived back in Garden, Rinoa was working from the afternoon until late at night and was always too tired to satisfy _his _needs as a man... Coincidental, or what?

So, Squall had planned a nice night in for the pair... "It's eleven forty-nine, Rinoa. So we've still got around ten minutes till the strongest part of the storm hits us." Squall was pacing around his room whilst on the phone to Rinoa. "Are you coming to my room or me to yours?" He sighed, "Just say! Right. You come to mine then, your room smells anyway. Whatever you say. Right, see you soon." Walking to his bedroom, he pulled out a pair of pyjama's and a large comfortable looking duvet. After having a short fumble trying to get his pyjama top over his head, he carried the duvet into the room with the small sofa and threw it over it. He then took many of the random cushions lying about his room and flung them all onto the sofa. Finally, he jumped into it. _Good, comfortable. _

Rotating his sofa ninety degrees so that it was facing the window, Squall grimaced. He never liked the snow after slipping in it when he was younger and crashing face first into a wall. Snow brought pain, physical pain. He disliked physical pain- He already got enough of it from Rinoa's "playful" slaps. A few moments later and a soft tapping could be heard at the door, "One second!" Squall shouted, checking his watch. _Eleven fifty-five, nice timing Rin. _He casually opened the door, "Surprise, surprise."

Rinoa was dressed in navy woolly pyjama bottoms and a large t-shirt saying, 'Do it', which was obviously too big for her. She smiled sweetly then slapped his stomach... He winced. "You asked me to come." Gliding past him on her tippy-toes, she planted herself right into the middle of the sofa bed that Squall had converted a few minutes before. "Good, comfortable." She winked, "...Veeery comfortable."

Blowing his nails and wiping them on the side of his pyjama top, he gave her a smug look. "Well, you know me- Veeery thoughtful." He pointed to the window, "I even rotated the sofa so you can watch the snow..."

""...And you know how much I hate snow.."" They both said at the same time.

It was now Rinoa's turn to look smug, "Ahh Squally, I know you too well. But, thank you. You're such a thoughtful little grump. Now c'mere!" She patted a large cushion beside her.

"Hold up a moment." Before approaching the sofa bed, Squall lit a few candles here and there; made sure the heating was turned on and opened the window ever so slightly so that they could hear the sound of the snow falling and the light whispering of the wind. He winked at her, "All set." Turning off the remaining lights he had switched on earlier, he scrambled to the sofa bed, jumped under the blankets and started to rub his feet. "I'm freezing."

_"Wana share some body heat?"_

"Huh?"

Coughing, Rinoa said,"Aww shush, give the heating a second."

Squall blinked momentarily, "You should be the one rubbing my feet, you know."

Rinoa raised an eyebrow, showing a peculiar look, "Alrighty, give me your cheesy feet." She grabbed his feet and stuck her fingernails into them. "The day Zell stops perving over girls, is the day I'll rub your cheese balls." Laughing, she threw his feet off of her and plumped her own one's onto his lap, "Now you rub mine, please."

"Ha!" He slapped her feet, "Nobody insults my feet!" Lifting one of the soft cushions beside him, he raised it high above his head, laughed menacingly and then smacked Rinoa straight over the head. "Now be quiet and watch the snow with me." Lifting an arm and placing it around Rinoa's shoulder, Squall felt her body go stiff. Thinking something was wrong he asked her nervously if she was okay.

Rinoa stayed silent and just stared of into the distance, she waited until her boyfriend's face was right in front of hers before she began her attack, grabbing hold of two cushions sitting beside her she began to pelt Squall multiple times on the face and back. He immediately flew a few feet into the air. "Never, ever, hit me with a cushion again!" Several minutes later and a satisfied looking Rinoa offered Squall her hand. "Even?"

Mumbling something inaudible Squall took her hand and pulled himself onto the sofa bed once more, "..."

The snow outside was much heavier now as the weather forecast had predicted and Rinoa clapped her hands with glee, like a child. "We should go out in it!" She looked at Squall and started to nod her head, thinking it would somehow persuade him. No chance.

"Are you insane?" He looked at his watch, "It's midnight Rinoa. This is the heaviest part of the storm, we'd probably get swept away by the wind if we went out there."

"...Yeah, youre right..."

Suddenly a large gust of wind swept through the window, a frightening howling sound could be heard as it swooshed through the room, blowing out the candles that Squall had lit, then, the lights in Squall's bedroom switched off and the entire dormitory was in darkness. Squall could feel Rinoa searching for his hand, he grabbed hers and they entwined their fingers.

"Do you think there's been a power cut?" Rinoa's voice cut through the darkness.

Squall put his free arm around her shoulder, "Looks like it. Back-up generators should be up and running any minute though." He could only see one half of Rinoa's face, thanks to the moonlight and_ damn_ did she look beautiful. Squeezing her hand subconsciously, he gave her a reassuring smile. "Anyways.. We only had one light on before, won't really make a difference if the electricity starts up again." Removing his arm from around her should Squall scratched his back and yawned. A strange noise escaping as he did so.

"I suppose... But all the candles are out now though, the romantic feeling's sort of disintegrated, eh?"

_Huh?! _"...I wouldn't _exactly _say that..." _You ruined it when you smacked me around with a few pillows. _While deciding to keep this to himself, he noticed one of Rinoa's eyebrow's raise.

"Oh, would you not?" Smiling deviously, Rinoa looked to the ground. "It's just..." She pouted, "I heard you yawning and stuff... So, I assumed you were tired. Didn't think you could handle a night of being awake, y'know..." Struggling to contain her laughter she also added, "Maybe you wouldn't have the strength...?"

Feeling insulted now, Squall shifted his body weight so that he was facing directly at Rinoa but, while he was in the middle of moving, he lost his balance and embarrassingly fell face first into Rinoa's breasts._ Veeery soft... Hey wait!-This is better than my pillow!! ... Sick thoughts... Embarrassing... Escape. _"Ahh! So sorry about that Rin! ...Lost my balance." He muttered hauling his face from Rinoa's cleavage.

"Ahh Squally, Squally, Squally." Rinoa tutted, "You know if you would like to get into my breasts _that _bad, all you gotta do is ask! No need to 'pretend' to fall." She winked at him. "_Or!_ Maybe you just... fell asleep? 'Cause of the yawn and all..." Chuckling evilly in her head, she grinned.

_Whaaaaaaaat!? _"And maybe you're just doing this to torture me?" After a few seconds of trying to come up with something smart, Squall also threw a, "And a man can only take a certain amount of torturing Rinoa..." onto the end of that sentence.

She laughed, "Now... How did we get from rubbing feet to 'torturing' you?"

"I believe that was your fault."

"Ahh yes, you yawning started it." Rinoa said, smiling at Squall. "If you weren't so ignorant by yawning in front of your girlfriend then we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we? _In fact!" _She rubbed her chin, "We could be making love to one another under these very blankets, yes?"

Squall's eyes went wide at this moment and he had to remember to breath after a few minutes of pure silence. "...Maybe?" He eventually croaked. After another few moments of silence, he spoke up, "Too dark though, all I can see is half of your face."

"Bah! Get the candle's lit."

"Again... All I can see is half of your face."

"Oh yes... I remember now! It's _me _who's the sorceress!" Within a few seconds Rinoa had located the candle's and lit them with weak fire magic. She smiled seductively at Squall from over the top of one of the candles, "Bright enough for you?"

"Get in."

"Woo!" Scrambling over to the sofa bed thing, Rinoa pranced under the covers and Squall immediately joined her. "Why'd the candles needed to be lit if we're under the covers?" Squall shrugged. "You're such a woman." Whilst going in for their first kiss of the night, the two stopped in their tracks when a continuous banging noise came from their door. "Squall." Rinoa whispered, "What the hell is that..?"

Squall shrugged once more and gently climbed out from under the blankets. While the candles flickered in the background, Squall tip-toed toward the door where the banging was still coming from. Making his hand into a fist, he raised his arm and opened the door quite suddenly only to have something or someone fall on top of him. "AHHHHHHHHH! IT'S A GHOST! KILL IT!! RIIIIIINOA!!"

"Relax!" Rinoa cooed. "It's simply..." She trotted toward the thing lying on top of Squall, "...Zell?!"

"Ugh..." Zell rubbed his head, struggling to stand on his own two feet.

Squall, who was still lying on the floor looking shocked simply shook his head and crawled onto his feet. "Zell." He said firmly, "What the hell are you doing wondering around Garden at this time? It's pitch black out there!"

Zell simply rubbed his eyes. It seemed to take him a few minutes to realise just exactly where he was, "Huh? Squall? _Rinoa?_ What are you doing here?"

"Uhh Zell?" Rinoa piped, "This is sorta... Squall's room. Why're you wondering the halls so late at night?"

"Aww no! Serious?!"

Rinoa nodded.

"No waaay! Shit guys.. I'm so sorry! My sleep walking problem must be back up again. Aww damn! I thought it was gone! After Cid spending that much money.. Shit! Damn!!" Zell swore for a bit before analysing Squall's room, "Ahh! I see what's going on here. You two had a little somethin' somethin' planned for tonight, riiight?" He winked at Squall. "Good man."

"Zell!" Squall growled, "Get out!"

Glancing back out to the dark hallways, Zell groaned. "Why's there no lights?"

"Power cut. Now go!"

"Whaaat?! You can't throw me out in the dark man, don't you know it's a full moon!! Friggin' werewolves are out there!"

Squall sighed, "...Hopefully they won't attack you." He said sarcastically.

"Look here Squall, you'd rather have one little sex session over _my life_?!" Squall put on a thoughtful look, to which, Zell simply pretended to spit. "Despicable, man. You disgust me."

"Zell..." Rinoa said, smiling "I highly doubt that there'll be werewolves running around the hallways of a Garden on a December night. It's too cold for them! Squall will walk you back to your room, right?"

"Wrong." Quickly shoving Zell out of his room, Squall closed the door and locked it.

"DUUUDE!" Zell continuously slammed on the door. "It's so dark..." He banged for a few more minutes.

"Harsh." Rinoa commented, plopping herself onto the sofa bed. They could hear Zell's footsteps retreating futher and further away from the room. "You should have brought him to his room. He doesn't like the dark."

"You're making him sound like he's three." Jumping onto the sofa bed and pulling the quilts over his head, Squall smirked. "Now Miss. Rinoa, where were we?"

"You know... I'd rather just watch the snowstorm. My romantic mood has sort of... Evaporated. Maybe another time?"

Squall was now having mental images of killing Zell. _Stupid back-up generators ruining my flippin' night. Reminder to kill Zell. God damn! -.-_

* * *

Howdy. :) So, this one's between Squall and Rinoa. It didn't really turn out how I wanted it to but sure, what can you do? Well thank you very much for reading. Bye!


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